The present invention relates to a high fidelity speaker system and, more particularly, to a modular speaker system for installation in a suspended ceiling in place of a conventional ceiling tile.
It is well known in the art to mount a speaker for a second system in an acoustic ceiling tile or panel, which tile or panel is supported by a conventional suspended ceiling supporting grid. It is also known to mount a single speaker in an enclosure with the enclosure supported by a suspended ceiling supporting grid. The enclosure may include a ceiling tile facing or a face plate of some other material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,689 discloses a modular assembly for a single speaker mounted in a self-contained enclosure and adapted to be placed in a supporting grid for a conventional suspended ceiling. The speaker is mounted in an opening in a conventional ceiling tile or a more rigid rectangular plate and is enclosed on the backside of the supporting tile or plate by a spherical primary enclosure. Each speaker modular is intended to be used with a plurality of identical speaker modules in a continuous ceiling arrangement wherein they are electrically interconnected for simultaneous reproduction of a common input signal. However, the substantial depth of the spherical rear enclosure makes the speaker module impractical for installation in a typical suspended ceiling system where it is desirable to keep the space between the ceiling and the structure from which it is suspended at a minimum.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,865 shows a speaker mounted in a bell-shaped housing and an assembly for attaching the speaker and housing to a conventional acoustic ceiling panel. To compensate for the low strength of the ceiling panel, the mounting assembly for the speaker on the back face of the panel is attached directly to the supporting gridwork for the ceiling. The mounting system is structurally complex, making installation and removal somewhat tedious and time consuming. In addition, the bell-shaped speaker housing is of a considerable depth, requiring additional head room between the suspended ceiling and upper supporting structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,691 discloses a speaker mounted to the backside of a conventional ceiling tile. In one embodiment, the rear of the speaker on the backside of the ceiling tile is enclosed with a sound absorbing enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,658 discloses an assembly for mounting a speaker in a hole cut in a conventional ceiling tile. The mounting assembly includes a rigid backing structure which secures the speaker to the ceiling tile and reinforces the assembly to compensate for the low supporting strength of the ceiling tile per se.
The prior art, of which the foregoing patents are representative of the most relevant art known to the inventor, is characterized by assemblies adapted to support a single speaker, mount the speaker to an existing acoustic ceiling tile, and/or enclose the rear of the speaker in a large or bulky enclosure. Ceiling tiles of a lightweight fibrous, foam, or similar material are structurally weak and mounting a speaker directly to the tile may result in the tile sagging or failing under load. Some prior art constructions utilize a supporting mounting framework to compensate for the lack of tile strength. Such constructions, however, tend to be mechanically complex and difficult to install or remove. It would be desirable, therefore, to have a complete modular speaker system which could be easily installed in virtually any conventional suspended ceiling system simply by substituting the speaker module for a ceiling tile. Such a speaker module should be completely self-contained, strong and rigid enough to support the components, of a low profile to allow it to be installed in a suspended ceiling with little back clearance, and have an aesthetically attractive outer face to match or compliment adjacent ceiling tiles.